The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

Linghu Chong saw that these Jianghu"s heroes were quite violent but they were also very loyal and frank people. If Shaolin Temple didn"t want to release Yingying, then both sides would get into a b.l.o.o.d.y battle and the outcome would unavoidably be horrible. Everyday, he waited for news from Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai. He was hoping that due to the two Shi Tai"s reputations, Abbot Fangzheng would agree to release Yingying and avoid the catastrophe from happening. Only three days remained until the fifteenth of the twelfth month and they were now less than a hundred li from the Shaolin Temple but there was still no news from the two Shi Tai. The way they were going to Shaolin temple with banners flying and drums beating, everyone must have heard of their advance. But so far, there was no movement from the other party at all as if nothing was happening. Linghu Chong raised this issue with Zu Qianqiu and Ji Wushi and they also felt worried about this.

That night, the group stayed in an open field. Sentries were put on the outside of the group to prevent possible night raids from the enemy. The wind was blowing coldly and the grey clouds hanged low on the sky. It appeared that a big rain was about to pour down. The open field was filled with cooking fires in tens of li in every direction. Not restrained by any military command, the group of warriors acted more or less as a mob as they gathered together singing and shouting loudly shaking the ground. There were also people with swords and sabres out competing with each other while some were wrestling. Everywhere, it was noisy and filled with shouts.

Linghu Chong thought, "It"s best if I don"t let these people step on the grounds of Shaolin Temple. Why don"t I go first to ask Great Master Fangzheng and Fangsheng? If I can get Yingying out, wouldn"t it be a great celebration for everyone?" At this thought, his whole body felt hot. After he thought more on this, he changed his mind,

"But if I fight the Shaolin"s monks just by myself then I"ll be captured or even killed. I"m not worried about dying but there"ll be no one to preside over these people. Without a leader, there will be chaos in this group of heroes and they wouldn"t be able to get Yingying out. More over, many of these several thousands of courageous and upright friends would probably be killed on Mount Shaoshi. If I acted rashly and ruin this matter, how would I be able to apologise to all these people?"

He stood up and looked around him. Looking at the people besides the piles of fire, he thought, "If they"re not doing this for Yingying, they wouldn"t have submitted to me at all."

Two days later, they arrived on Mount Shaoshi and were just outside of the Shaolin Temple. During these two days, even more warriors joined their group. The people he had met on that day on Five-Tyrant Ridge"s gathering including Huang Boliu, Sima Big, Blue Phoenix as well as White Flood Dragon"s Clan leader Shi and the "Yangtze River"s Pair of Flying Fish" had all come. There were still many heroes that Linghu

Chong didn"t manage to see who had come as well. Conservatively, they had around five to six thousands people now.

Several hundred drums were beating shaking the ground and trembling the sky. The group was beating the drums for a long time but not a single monk came out of the temple. Linghu Chong roared out his command, "Stop the drum!" The beating sounds gradually became lighter until they finally stopped. Linghu Chong took a deep breath and in a clear voice said, "Junior Linghu Chong and many friends from Jianghu have come to pay a visit to Shaolin"s Abbot. I ask respectfully to be granted a meeting." Linghu Chong attached abundant of internal energy into his voice and he was heard from many li but there was still no sound from inside the temple. Linghu Chong spoke again and yet there was still no response from the temple. Linghu Chong said, "Brother Zu, please offer our visit card."

"Yes," Zu Qianqiu complied as he carried the prepared visit box which stored the card with Linghu Chong"s name and the names of leaders from various sects. He went up to the main gate of the Shaolin Temple and knocked on it a few times. When there was no still no sound coming from the temple, he lightly pushed on the gate. The gate wasn"t bolted and it opened easily. He looked inside and couldn"t see anyone

around. He didn"t dare to go into the temple without authorisation so he turned around to report to Linghu Chong. Although Linghu Chong"s martial art was high, he still didn"t have much experience and had never led a large group of people before. With this unantic.i.p.ated situation before him, he didn"t know what to do. He was momentarily stupefied and speechless.

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "All the monks in the temple have all escaped? Let"s go inside! If we see any shiny head, we"ll kill him straight away."

Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "You said all the monks have all escaped. If so, where are you going to find some shiny heads to kill?"

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Don"t nuns also have shiny heads?"

Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "It"s a monk"s temple, how can there be nuns in there?"

Peachtree Root Fairy quickly pointed his fingers at a person. "This man here isn"t a monk, he"s also not a nun, but he has a shiny head."

Peachtree Trunk Fairy asked, "Why do you want to kill him?"

Ji Wushi interrupted, "How about we go in and take a look?"

Linghu Chong replied, "That"s good. Brother Ji, brother Old, brother Zu, and clan leader Huang, please accompany me into the temple. Everybody please pa.s.s this order to restrict your subordinates from acting wildly and tell them they must not be rude to any Shaolin monk. Also they can"t burn any gra.s.s or trees on this mountain."

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "Then you can"t even pull out any gra.s.s?"

Linghu Chong was feeling worried about Yingying so he strode purposefully into the temple. Ji Wushi and the other three people followed behind him.

After entering through the gate, they walked on a stone path and went past the front courtyard and the front hall, and arrived at the Great Hero Precious Hall. In the hall, they saw the majestic likeness of Rulai Buddha. They saw the floor and the table were covered with a thin layer of dust. Zu Qianqiu said, "Could it be that all the monks in the temple have escaped?" Linghu Chong chided, "Brother Zu, don"t say this word "escape"."

The five people stood quietly and tried to listen for any sounds. But apart from the clamoring noise from the group outside the temple, there was no sound at all coming from the temple.

"The Shaolin monks must be hiding around the place to ambush us," Ji Wushi whispered.

Linghu Chong thought, "Abbot Fangzheng and Great Master Fangsheng are all eminent monks. Why would they use deceit? But knowing that a lot of unorthodox sects came together to attack, the Shaolin monks may have wanted a battle of wits instead of strength. That"s not unusual." He saw that Shaolin Temple was a huge place but saw no sign of anyone. A sense of dread started to wash over him as he worried about what they might have done to Yingying.

The five of them looked around and listened to all directions as they walked further in. After pa.s.sing two large courtyards, they arrived at the back hall. Suddenly, Linghu Chong and Ji Wushi stopped at the same time and made some hand signals. Old Man and the other two people immediately stopped. Linghu Chong pointed to a side room on the northwest side and quietly walked there. Old Man and the other three people followed him. They heard light groaning sounds coming from the inside of the room. Linghu Chong stopped in front of the door and pulled his sword out. He then extended his hand to push the door open while leaning his body to one side to protect himself against projectiles from inside the room. As the door creaked open, they again heard the light groaning sound from inside.

Linghu Chong turned his head to look inside the room and was greatly surprised to see two old nuns on the floor. He recognized the nun facing towards him as Dingyi Shi Tai. With her face pale and her eyes closed, it looked as if she had died. His body shot forward like an arrow going into the room. Zu Qianqiu called out, "Chief, be careful!" as he followed him in. Linghu Chong went around Dingyi Shi Tai"s body to have a look at the other person lying down. As expected, she was Heng-Shan School"s leader Dingxian Shi Tai.

Linghu Chong stooped down and called out, "Shi Tai, Shi Tai."

Dingxian Shi Tai slowly opened her eyes. She was really sluggish at the beginning but there was a flash of happiness in her eyes as she recognised him. Her mouth moved like she was trying to say something but she couldn"t get any sound out. Linghu Chong stooped even lower, "It"s Junior Linghu Chong." Dingxian Shi Tai"s mouth moved again and managed to whisper really lightly. Linghu Chong managed to hear her saying, "You… you… you…" He saw her injuries were really serious and didn"t know how much longer she would live. Dingxian Shi Tai uttered a few more words, "You… You promise me…"

Linghu Chong hastily said, "Yes, yes. Whatever Shi Tai orders, Linghu Chong will do it. Even until my body turned to dust, I will still accomplish it."

Thinking of the two Shi Tai dying in Shaolin Temple on his account, tears started to flow down his cheeks. Dingxian Shi Tai whispered, "You… you"re certain that you can promise… promise me?"

Linghu Chong replied, "I promise!"

Dingxian Shi Tai"s glimmered with happiness. "You… you promise to take charge of… take charge of Heng-Shan School family…" After saying these few words, she was out of breath.

Linghu Chong was greatly surprised, "Junior is a male, I can"t be your n.o.ble school"s leader. But Shi Tai be at ease, no matter what kind of difficulty or calamity your n.o.ble school is in, Junior will do my best to undertake the burden."

Dingxian Shi Tai slowly shook her head, "No, no. I… I"m pa.s.sing you Linghu Chong, the Heng-Shan School… Heng-Shan School"s leadership. If you… you don"t agree, I"ll die… die with an unfulfilled wish."

Zu Qianqiu and the other three people were standing behind Linghu Chong. They all felt Dingxian Shi Tai"s last wish was too unthinkable. Linghu Chong"s heart was in great confusion and felt that this was a really difficult matter to decide on. But he saw that Dingxian Shi Tai only had a short time to live. With blood welling up in his heart, he promised, "Alright, Junior agrees to Shi Tai"s request."

Dingxian Shi Tai smiled and whispered, "Many… many thanks! Heng-Shan School"s hundreds of disc… disciples, from now on they"ll all bother… bother young hero Linghu." Linghu Chong was alarmed, indignant, and grieved, "Shaolin temple is so unreasonable, why would they be so violent towards Shi Tai, Junior…" Just then Dingxian Shi Tai"s head lolled to one side and her eyes closed. Greatly alarmed, Linghu Chong quickly extended his hand to check on her breathing but she had stopped breathing. His heart was grieved. He turned around and touched Dingyi Shi Tai"s hand. Her cold hands indicated that she had been dead for a long time. Indignation and sadness washed over him and he found himself choked with tears.

Old Man said, "Master Linghu, we must avenge the two Shi Tai. All those bald donkeys have run away from the temple. Let"s burn this Shaolin Temple to the ground."

Linghu Chong"s heart was filled with grief and indignation; he slapped his thigh and said, "Alright! Let"s burn Shaolin Temple to the ground."

Ji Wushi hastily said, "No! No! If Sacred Lady is still imprisoned in here then she"ll also be burnt to death."

Linghu Chong had said that absent-mindedly. He felt cold sweat breaking out from his back as he conceded, "I was confused. If brother Ji didn"t remind me, I would"ve ruined this matter. What should we do now?"

Ji Wushi replied, "Shaolin temple has many rooms, it"ll be hard for the five of us to search all the places. Chief, please pa.s.s an order to call two hundred brothers to come in and search the temple."

Linghu Chong said, "Right. Brother Ji, please go out and get more people."

"Yes," Ji Wushi replied and turned his body around to go out.

Zu Qianqiu called out, "Don"t let those Peach Valley Six Weirdos come in."

Linghu Chong lifted the bodies of the two Shi Tai and put them on a bed. Kneeling down, he kowtowed a few times to them and silently prayed, "Disciple will do my best to avenge both Shi Tai. You can rest easy in heaven about the Heng-Shan School family." He stood up and looked carefully at the injuries on the two bodies but didn"t see any cut or traces of blood on them. It was also inappropriate for him to lift their gowns to investigate further. He guessed that it was masters from Shaolin who must have used their palm"s inner energy and caused fatal internal injuries.

The sound of steps from two hundred heroes was then heard entering the temple as they separately went to search the area. Suddenly, someone shouted from outside the gate, "Linghu Chong"s not letting us in. But we want to go in, what"s he going to do?" It was Peachtree Branch Fairy"s voice. Linghu Chong scowled pretending not to have heard it. Then he heard Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "We"ve come to the world"s famous Shaolin Temple. But we"re not allowed to go in and take a stroll in there, how can he treat us so unjustly?"

Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "If we entered the Shaolin Temple and don"t meet the world"s famous Shaolin monks then that"ll be even more injustice."

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "If we can"t meet Shaolin temple"s monks then we can"t compare martial art against the world"s famous Shaolin School"s martial art. That"s even more injustice."

Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "The most famous ones are in Shaolin Temple but we can"t see a single monk here. This is really strange."

Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "There"s no monk, that"s not strange. But the strange thing is there are two nuns."

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "There are two nuns, that"s also not strange. What"s strange is that the nuns are not only old, they"re also dead."

The six brothers were talking back and forth as they walked towards the back courtyard.

Linghu Chong together with Zu Qianqiu, Old Man, and Huang Boliu walked away from the side room. Once they were out of the door, they saw the group that was searching around inside the Shaolin temple. After a while, people started to come and continuously reported their findings. They reported that not only the monks were gone from the temple but also the porters and cooks had also gone. One person reported that the Buddhist scriptures, records, and appliances had also been moved away. Not even a bowl was left behind. Another person reported that the firewood, rice, oil, and salt had all been emptied out. Even the vegetables in the garden had been pulled clean.

Every time Linghu Chong heard a report, he was more and more disheartened. He thought, "The Shaolin Temple"s monks cleaned this place up so thoroughly. So much so that they didn"t even leave behind a single vegetable in the garden. They must"ve moved Yingying somewhere else too. The world is so big, where do I begin to look for her?"

Close to two hours later, the two hundred people had finished searching the thousands of rooms in the Shaolin temple. They had even searched underneath the Buddha statues and the back of the Shaolin"s name board. But not even a single piece of paper was found. There were people who were pleased with themselves saying, "Shaolin School is Wulin"s number one school. But when they heard us coming, they unexpectedly ran away. This thing has never happened in more than a thousand year."

Another person said, "We"re so powerful. So no one in Wulin dares to look down upon us."

But there was a person who said, "The Shaolin monks were definitely driven away from hearing our might, but what about Sacred Lady? We came here to meet Sacred Lady, not to drive away the monks."

Everyone thought that this was reasonable. When some people heard this, they hanged their heads down as if someone had died. There were some who looked towards Linghu Chong waiting to hear what he had to say. Linghu Chong said, "This is beyond our expectations. Who would have expected that Shaolin monks would leave their temple. I have no idea how to handle this situation. One person"s thought is limited, if we have more than two then we would have more ideas. So please give me your opinions."

Huang Boliu said, "In my opinion, finding Sacred Lady is difficult while finding Shaolin monks is easier. Shaolin temple"s monks numbered more than a thousand, they can"t always hide forever. Once we found those Shaolin"s monks, we"ll definitely get a scent of where Sacred Lady is."

Zu Qianqiu said, "Clan leader Huang is right. We"ll just stay inside this temple. Those Shaolin School"s disciples would definitely not be willing to part with their thousand years old residence and allow us to live here. When they wanted to take back this temple from us then we"ll ask them about Sacred Lady"s whereabouts."

A person said, "Ask about Sacred Lady whereabouts? Why would they agree to tell us?"

Old Man said, "This so called asking is merely a polite way of saying it. We"ll extort from them the answer. When we see any Shaolin monks, we"ll capture them but not kill them. Then after we"ve captured eight to ten of them, are we still afraid that they won"t tell us?"

Another person said, "If these monks still didn"t want to tell us, then what do we do?"

Old Man said, "That"s easy. We"ll just ask Chief Blue to release some of her Divine Dragon, Divine Object on their bodies. Do we then still be afraid of them not disclosing the information?" Many people nodded their heads agreeing with what he said. Everyone knew that this so called "Chief Blue"s Divine Dragon, Divine Object" was Chief Blue Phoenix"s five poisons of viper and poison worm. When these venomous pests were put on people"s bodies, they would start gnawing on their flesh. The pain would be comparable to the worst punishment that existed in this world. Blue Phoenix smiled and said, "Shaolin temple"s monks have undergone lots of practice for a long time. I"m not sure if my Divine Dragon, Divine Object would work on them."

Linghu Chong suddenly thought, "We don"t need to deal them with excessive punishment. We just need to capture as many monks as we can. After capturing a hundred of them, then we"ll trade a hundred for one. That way we"ll surely be able to get Yingying out."

Suddenly, a person with coa.r.s.e voice said, "We haven"t eaten meat for half a day, I"m starving. There"s also no monks in the temple, otherwise we"ll capture one with thin and white skin and steam him. That"ll be very wonderful!" The person who said this had a high stature. It was the tall White Bear from the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert. Everyone knew that Black Bear and White Bear liked to eat human flesh. Although these few words of his could make other people vomit from hearing it, they had been on Mount Shaoshi for a long time now and had not had anything to eat or drink. Everyone felt hungry and thirsty and some people"s stomachs were croaking from hunger.

Huang Boliu said, "Shaolin School is using this plan of strengthen whatever clear whatever."

Zu Qianqiu said, "Strengthen the defenses and clear the field."

(Translator"s note: This means to fortify the defence works and to leave nothing usable to the invading enemy.)

Huang Boliu said, "Right. They were hoping that we"d get hungry inside the temple then obediently go down the mountain. How can there be such an easy thing in this world?"

Linghu Chong asked, "What"s clan leader Huang"s opinion?"

Huang Boliu replied, "We"ll send a group of brothers to go down the mountain and find out where these Shaolin monks had gone to. We"ll send another group to purchase foodstuffs. Everyone else will be staying in the temple to guard… hmm.. whatever waiting for rabbit in order to avoid these monks" throwing… throwing whatever net." Huang Boliu loved to use proverbs when speaking but he didn"t remember them clearly so the idioms he used would frequently be wrong.

Linghu Chong said, "That"s a good idea. Clan leader Huang, please take the order and get five hundred astute and capable brothers to go down the mountain and find out the whereabouts of Shaolin monks. About this matter of purchasing foodstuffs, I ask clan leader Huang to handle this matter too." Huang Boliu complied with his order and turned around to go out.

Blue Phoenix laughed, "Hopefully clan leader Huang can handle this matter. Otherwise, White Bear and Black Bear would be very hungry and start to eat everything they see."

Huang Boliu laughed, "Old man will take care of this. But even if those Bear Duo of Northern Desert get really hungry till their belly is shrunken, they still wouldn"t dare to even touch Chief Blue"s fingers."

Zu Qianqiu said, "The temple"s monks have all gone out. I"d like to ask friends here to do this one thing. Could you please have a look everywhere again? See if there"s anything unusual, maybe we"ll be able to find some clues." The crowd boomed their replies and started to go to take a look around.

Linghu Chong sat on a kneeling mat in the Great Hero Precious Hall and was looking at the majestic likeness of the Rulai Buddha. The statue had an expression of pity and mercifulness. He thought, "Abbott Fangzheng is an eminent monk. When he found out that we were coming here, he"d rather destroy Shaolin School"s reputation than to lead people to fight us. In the end, he has avoided a big bloodbath here. But why did they kill Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai? I"m guessing the one who killed the two Shi Tai must be a vicious monk from this temple and the Abbott may have no idea at all about this. I must respect Abbott"s good intentions and must not look for Shaolin monks to give them trouble. I must think of another way to save Yingying."

Suddenly, a burst of wind blew in through the door and hurled open the screen in front of him. The ash in the incense pot was blown all over the hall. Linghu Chong walked towards the hall"s entrance and looked at the sky. The clouds were grey and the north wind was blowing hard. He thought in his heart, "It"s going to rain tonight." Just as he thought of this, flakes of snow started to float down from the sky. "The sky is cold and the ground is going to be frozen. I don"t know if Yingying has winter clothes with her. Shaolin School has so many people they can deploy efficiently while we"re only using bravery here to get Yingying out. This is impossible to do."

With his hands behind his back, he walked back and forth in the pa.s.sage in front of the hall. The snow was falling on his head, face, gown, and hands. It quickly melted as it touched him.

His thought continued, "Just before Dingxian Shi Tai pa.s.sed away, even though her injury was serious, she was still clear headed and wasn"t confused in the slightest bit. But why did she want me to become Heng-Shan School"s leader? Heng-Shan School doesn"t even have a single man in their school. I also heard that all their previous leaders were all nuns. How can I be the leader of Heng-Shan School when I"m a man? When this gets out, people in Jianghu will laugh till their jaws drop. Hng, I already agreed to her request, how can a gentleman eat his own word? What I do or where I go, even if other people laughed at me, what"s that got to do with them?" At this thought, his heroic spirit rose up.

Suddenly he heard light noises from half the mountain of people shouting. Not long after, the big group outside of the temple started to make a lot of noise. Linghu Chong was alarmed and he quickly rushed towards the temple"s main gate. He saw Huang Boliu walking towards him with his face full of fresh blood. An arrow was stuck in his shoulder and the cut out shaft was trembling. He called out, "Chief, enemy… enemy is guarding the road going down the mountain. We have… have been thrown that… hmm, that net."

Linghu Chong was startled, "Are they Shaolin monks?"

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Huang Boliu said, "They"re not monks. They"re just ordinary people. His granny, we haven"t gone more than three li when we were forced back by their arrows. Around ten brothers died and there are around seventy to eighty people injured. That"s the whole army annihilated."

He then saw several hundred people rushing to retreat back to the temple. Many people in that group had been hit by arrows. The people in the main group were calling out like thunder as they prepared to die charging down the mountain. Linghu Chong asked, "What school is the enemy from? Did clan leader Huang manage to get a look?"

Huang Boliu said, "We didn"t get near to the enemy. His granny, they"re very good with their bows and arrows. We didn"t get to see those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds" faces clearly. They were shooting those arrows continuously. Usually, it"s make friends when you"re far and attack when you"re near then all the arrows would hit its target."

Zu Qianqiu said, "It seems that Shaolin School deliberately left the temple to snare us. We"re like a turtle captured in a jar."

Old Man said, "What turtle captured in a jar? How can you grow the enemy"s spirit and extinguish our own power? This is… this is called to lure the enemy to penetrate deeply into their territory."

Zu Qianqiu said, "Alright. We"ll say that it"s luring the enemy to penetrate deeply into their territory. We"re already here so what else is there to say? These monks want us to die of starvation on top of this Mount Shaoshi."

White Bear shouted, "Who wants to charge down the mountain with me to kill these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?" This was followed by more than a thousand people answering him.

Linghu Chong shouted, "Wait! The opponents are shooting arrows, we must think of a way to deal with them to avoid futilely injuring ourselves."

Ji Wushi said, "There"s nothing else in this Buddhist temple but there are thousands of putuan here."

This reminded everyone as they said together, "Use those as shields. Those are just as good."

Several hundred people quickly rushed into the temple and brought out many putuans with them.

Linghu Chong called out, "Use these to block the arrows! Everyone rush down the mountain."

Ji Wushi said, "Chief, where should we gather after we rush down, what are we going to do after that, how are we going to save Sacred Lady, we have to arrange all these first."

Linghu Chong said, "Right. You saw just before how I didn"t speak up on that matter, how can I still be Chief? I think after we got down the mountain, everyone should temporarily go back home first and ask around for the whereabouts of the Sacred Lady. We"ll talk later to think of a way to save Sacred Lady."

Ji Wushi said, "Alright." and he quickly shouted Linghu Chong"s order to the rest of the group.

That flesh eating monk Black Bear said, "Shaolin temple"s bald donkeys are so hateful. Everyone, let"s burn this ghost temple down then we"ll rush down and stake our lives." He himself was a monk but he scolded them as "bald donkey" and didn"t care about it.

The crowd cheered his idea. Linghu Chong waved his hand and shouted, "Sacred Lady is still in their hands right now, no one must be rude to them. Sacred Lady might be disadvantaged by that."

Everyone thought that what he said was right, "Alright, we"ll let them off then."

Linghu Chong said, "Brother Ji, how do we charge down? Please a.s.sign us."

Ji Wushi saw Linghu Chong had no apt.i.tude in commanding this group of heroes when dealing with the dangers so he didn"t hesitate in taking control of the situation. He said in a loud and clear voice, "Friends, please listen to Chief"s order. Everyone will go down the mountain through eight paths. East, south, west, and north are four of the paths. Southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest are the other four paths. We"ll just quickly rush out of the encirclement and don"t worry about killing them." He then a.s.signed the path that each clan and school would be taking. About five to six hundred or seven to eight hundred people would be rushing each path.

Ji Wushi said, "The south path is the main road to go down the mountain and it has the most enemy there. Chief, we"ll rush down the south road first and lead the enemy along with us. This will make it easier for the rest of the brothers to rush out of the encirclement."

Linghu Chong grasped his sword but didn"t take a putuan with him as he strode to go down the mountain. The crowd roared their battle cry and separately rushed down through the eight paths. But on top of the mountain, there weren"t eight paths to actually go down from so some people leaped as they went down. In the beginning, there were eight path they were taking but later they were just like bees swarming down the mountain. After Linghu Chong had gone for a few li, he heard many whirring sounds as a rain of arrows was released from the forest in front of him. He used Dugu Nine Swords" "Arrow-breaking stance" to bat away the arrows raining down on him while he was still rushing down the mountain. Suddenly, he heard someone crying out behind him. It was Blue Phoenix falling down as her left leg and left shoulder was. .h.i.t at the same time. Linghu Chong hastily turned around to support her and said, "I"ll protect you." Blue Phoenix said, "Don"t worry about me. You… you… you going down the mountain is most important." At this time, the air was still buzzing from the arrows being shot towards them. Linghu Chong was still waving his hand around blocking the arrows coming towards him. But he saw people kept falling on the ground one by one as they were struck by the arrows.

Linghu Chong seized Blue Phoenix with his left hand and rushed down the mountain. The arrows kept on coming and Linghu Chong kept scattering them away with his sword. He felt worried as the arrows kept raining down. The people shooting the arrows had strong martial art and the air was thick with arrows. Although the group of heroes had putuans to use, it was still hard for them to block these arrows as more and more people were hit. Linghu Chong couldn"t decide whether to keep rushing down or turn back to the temple.

Ji Wushi called out, "Chief, enemy"s arrows are too severe. Our brethrens can"t rush down the mountain and many have been injured or killed. Let"s call everyone back and we"ll think of an idea." Linghu Chong knew that they were about to be defeated. If they clashed with the enemies, then the situation would be hopeless. He immediately called out, "Everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple! Everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple!" Even though thousands of people were shouting and crying out as they fought, his shout was still audible everywhere because of his abundant internal energy. Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, and tens of other people shouted out, "Chief"s order, everyone retreat to the Shaolin temple." The crowd heard the order and started to retreat.

In front of the Shaolin temple, people were cursing, groaning, and calling out. The ground from east to west was covered by blood. Ji Wushi was giving out order to eight hundred uninjured people to separate into eight groups and guard the eight paths. These thousands of people who had come to Shaolin temple, half of them belonged to clans or sects and they were obeying orders. But the other two thousand people were just mobs and after they had been defeated, they were in confusion. They were each doing their own things and didn"t know what to do.

Linghu Chong said, "Everyone, quickly treat our injured brethrens and give medicines to them." In his heart, he was thinking, "It"s a shame that Heng-Shan School"s disciples aren"t here and we don"t have their medicines." He continued thinking, "If Heng-Shan School"s people are here, would they help me or would they side with the orthodox schools? En, the two Shi Tai were killed, of course they would help me."

He heard the crowd was still clamouring incessantly and he felt uneasy. If he was the only one who had been trapped on this mountain top, then he would"ve rushed down the mountain a long time ago. He wouldn"t care if he died or live. But he was the leader of all these heroes and was responsible for these thousand of people"s lives. As he thought of this, he didn"t know what to do.

He saw that it was sunset already. Suddenly, sounds of drums and people calling out were heard from the mountainside. Linghu Chong drew his long sword out and rushed to the intersection of the road. The crowd of heroes also grasped their sabres wanting to fight the enemy to the death. They heard the sounds of drums getting louder and louder but the enemy didn"t rush up. After a moment, the drums stopped and the crowd of heroes said one after another, "The drums stopped, they"re coming up now." "If they rush up then we"ll spill their blood till it flows like water and not spare a single one of them." "His granny, these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds want us to die up here from hunger and thirst." "If those sons of a turtle aren"t coming up then we"ll rush down to them." "If you want to rush down then why are you still talking?"

Ji Wushi whispered to Linghu Chong, "If we can"t sleep tonight and add to that we would also be hungry for one day and one night. Then everyone would be powerless to fight."

Linghu Chong replied, "Right. We"ll select two to three hundred people with high martial art to open the way for us. At night, the enemy"s arrows wouldn"t be as accurate. We"ll just disrupt the enemy and we can all rush forth to go down."

Ji Wushi said, "That"s the plan then."

At this moment, the sounds of drums from the mountainside rose again followed by around a hundred people with white cloth wrapped around their heads rushing up the mountain. The group of heroes cried out and rushed forth to fight them. But these one hundred people only attacked for a short while before they whistled and retreated back down the mountain. The crowd of heroes put their weapons down to rest. The drums sounded again and another group of people with white head wrap went up the mountain to attack. After fighting for a short while, they again retreated back down the mountain. Even though the enemy was retreating, the drums kept beating and another battle cry rose up not letting them rest.

Ji Wushi said, "Chief, the enemy is wearying our army and preventing us from taking a rest."

Linghu Chong said, "Yes. Brother Ji, please take care of it." Ji Wushi quickly pa.s.sed down the order that if the enemy came up again, then only those people on guard duty would fight while the others would take a rest and not pay attention to them.

Zu Qianqiu said, "Let"s talk now and pick three hundred good fighters. We then wait till the middle of the night, when the enemy attacks then these three hundred people would rush down. Once they started fighting with the enemy, these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds wouldn"t be able to shoot their arrows and everyone will rush down the mountain. Only by using this tactic of creating chaos would we be able to escape from this."

Linghu Chong said, "Fabulous. Brother Zu, please pick the people. Order them to wait for some confusion first before they charged down."

After about an hour, Zu Qianqiu had finished picking the three hundred first-cla.s.s fighters to furiously rush down the mountain. Even if the enemy had a thousand people lined up to block them, they might not necessarily be able to stop these three hundred fierce tigers. Linghu Chong"s vigour rose and he walked with Zu Qianqiu towards the mountain edge on the west side. He saw the three hundred people lined up there. Linghu Chong said, "Everyone, please sit down and rest. Wait until the sky is completely dark before going down to fight to the death." Those people boomed their replied.

At this time, the snow had been falling for some time and a thin layer of snow had acc.u.mulated on top of the ground and the people"s heads and gowns. There were some water jar in the temple but they were all empty. Even the water well had dried up. Everyone took up a handful of snow and started to put it in their mouths to quench their thirst. The sky was getting darker and darker until they could only vaguely looked at other people"s faces. Zu Qianqiu said, "Fortunately tonight is snowing. Otherwise, tonight on the fifteenth, the moon would be very bright."

Suddenly, the quiet enveloped the whole area. Inside and outside the Shaolin temple where thousands of heroes were gathered, and also from the mountainside to the foot of the Mount Shaoshi where around two to three thousand people were, everyone had unexpectedly become quiet at the same time. The people who were about to say something also stayed silent as the quiet atmosphere scared them. Only the light sound of snowflakes falling on the tree leaves and gra.s.s was heard. Linghu Chong suddenly thought, "I wonder what little martial sister is doing at this time."

The sound of "wu, wu, wu" was heard throughout the mountainside followed by a loud cry from every direction. This time the enemy appeared to have taken advantage of the darkness to launch their attack with full power, unlike before when they were just bluffing. Linghu Chong waved his long sword and lightly said, "Charge!" Linghu Chong along with Ji Wushi, Zu Qianqiu, Tian Boguang, Bear Duo of the Northern Desert, and those three hundred chosen warriors rushed down towards the northwest path.

The three hundred people rushed down the path as nothing was blocking them. After going for a li, Zu Qianqiu took out a small flare, lit it up, and shot it up into the air. It exploded with fireworks in the air. This was the signal for the heroes on top of the mountain to rush out of the temple.

Linghu Chong was rushing down the mountain when he felt his feet were hurting. It felt like he was trampling on nails. He felt uneasy about it and hastily leaped to the top of a tree. Zu Qianqiu and the rest of the people behind started to cry out: "Ayo, not good, there"s some trap on the ground!". Everyone felt their feet were being p.r.i.c.ked by nails and some of their feet were even stabbed all the way through. The pain was unbearable. Dozens of their people were still rushing down ignoring the pain when suddenly they fell down a big pit. More than ten spears were quickly thrust out stabbing those people in the pit. Cries of pain were coming out of the pit and they were heard throughout the mountain.

"Chief, quickly give out the order to retreat back up the mountain!" Ji Wushi screamed.

Linghu Chong saw the situation and it was obvious that the orthodox schools had set up a trap at the bottom of the mountain. If they kept rushing down, the whole army would be annihilated. He quickly shouted, "Everyone go back to Shaolin temple! Everyone go back to Shaolin temple!"

He leaped to the top of another tree besides the pit and poked his long sword down stabbing three spearmen. He then jumped down to the ground and landed besides one of the spearmen with the thought that there wouldn"t be any nails where these spearmen were standing on. All of a sudden, he had stabbed seven to eight people already. The remaining spearmen cried out and retreated. The forty or more people who had fallen down the pit jumped out one by one. But more than ten people were killed inside that pit. All they could see was the darkness of the night as they walked back. Even though the snow provided some light, they couldn"t see where the traps might be. They limped back up the mountains with their heads hanging down. Fortunately, the enemy didn"t take this opportunity to chase them.

The group of heroes went back into the temple. Under the candle light, they checked their injuries and found that nine out of ten people"s feet were pierced by the nails. Everyone was swearing at the enemy. Apparently, when the enemy was beating those drums several times, they were actually covering the sound of them digging the pit and scattering the nails. These nails were around a foot long and were very sharp. Seven part of it was buried underneath the ground with three part of it sticking out of the ground. It seemed that nails were scattered throughout the mountain. There may even be more than one hundred thousand of these nails buried on the ground.

Of course they had prepared these nails before hand. Otherwise, where would the enemy acc.u.mulate these many nails from? Even the more experienced heroes were still surprised and amazed when they thought of this. Ji Wushi pulled Linghu Chong to a side and quietly talked to him, "Master Linghu, we can"t retreat anymore. We"ve been thinking day and night hoping to save Sacred Lady. We"re forced to ask master to undertake this big matter alone."

Linghu Chong was greatly surprised, "You… you… what"s the meaning of this?"

"We know that master is willing to help people and would not just abandon us and go by yourself. But in the future, who would take revenge for this big enmity we have? Sacred Lady is also still being imprisoned, who would rescue her to see the sky again?"

Linghu Chong laughed, "So brother Ji wants me to escape this mountain by myself. Don"t think about this anymore. If we"re going to die then we"re just going to die, why do we need to think so much for? In this world, who doesn"t die? We"ll just die together. Sacred Lady is being imprisoned but in the future, she"ll also die. Even though the orthodox schools are victorious today, years from now, wouldn"t they also die one by one? This matter of winning or losing only determines whether you die sooner or later."

Seeing how Linghu Chong ignored his advice, Ji Wushi saw that it was no use to persuade him any further. But if Linghu Chong didn"t take advantage of the darkness to escape then it would be impossible to run away. When day time comes again, the enemy would start to attack them and it would not be possible to flee. At this thought, he let out a long sigh.

Suddenly, they heard a few people laughing. They were getting more joyous as they laughed. The group of heroes had had a major defeat and was now bunched together inside the temple. Their lives would probably only last till morning. Unexpectedly, there were still some people who could laugh so happily at this time. When Linghu Chong and Ji Wushi heard this laughter, they both knew that it was the Peach Valley Six Fairies. They both thought, "In this world, only these six weirdos can still laugh like this when facing their deaths."

They heard one of the Peach Valley Six Fairies said, "In this world, there are actually these kinds of fools! Stepping their feet nicely on those nails, Hahaha, this is really funny."

Another one said, "You"re all a bunch of idiots. You should"ve tested the ground with your feet first. If it hurts, of course they"re steel nails. Haha, is it comfortable with these iron nails piercing through your feet?"

Another one laughed, "You"ve already tasted how it feels to have a steel nail through your feet. Why don"t you use a steel hammer to hammer down some nails through your feet? Hahaha, hehehe, hahaha."

The six brothers were laughing until they were out of breath thinking that this was the funniest thing in the world. But no one else thought that this was funny.

The people who had their feet pierced by these steel nails were still crying out in pain. Yet, there were some inconsiderate people ridiculing and shouting abuses at them. But to scold back at the Peach Valley Six Fairies was a very difficult thing to do. They would debate every single word that came out of your mouth. If you scolded them "zhi niang zei" (straight mother thief), they would ask what"s "zhe niang" (straight mother) and why not "wan niang" (bent mother); If you scolded them "w.a.n.g ba dan"(king eight eggs or b.a.s.t.a.r.d), they"d persistantly ask you how come it wasn"t "w.a.n.g qi dan, w.a.n.g jiu dan" (king seven eggs or king nine eggs) and why must it be "w.a.n.g ba dan" (king eight eggs).

In a short time, the hall became really noisy with people shouting. Some people even looked for weapons to fight them. Linghu Chong saw the situation was getting out of hand. He suddenly called out, "Yi, what"s this? Fascinating, fascinating, this is very odd!"

When Peach Valley Six Fairies heard him, they immediately went over to him and asked, "What"s so interesting?"

"I saw six rats biting a cat pa.s.sing by here," Linghu Chong answered.

The Peach Valley Six Fairies were amused and they all asked, "I"ve never seen a mouse biting a cat before. Where did they go?"

Linghu Chong pointed somewhere and said, "They went there."

Peachtree Root Fairy pulled his hand, "Go, go! Everyone, let"s take a look."

The group of heroes knew that Linghu Chong was actually referring to the Peach Valley Six Fairies as the six mice. Unexpectedly, the Fairies actually believed that there were actually six mice and felt really happy. The Peach Valley Six Fairies crowded Linghu Chong pushing him to go towards the path at the back of the hall.

Linghu Chong laughed, "Yi! Is that it?"

"I didn"t see," Peachtree Fruit Fairy said.

Linghu Chong was intentionally trying to lead them far away from the rest of the people to prevent them from fighting. So he was just pointing anywhere and they walked farther and farther away from the group.

Peachtree Trunk Fairy pushed open a door on the side of the hall. Inside was jet black and they couldn"t see anything.

Linghu Chong laughed, "Ayo, six mice are carrying a big cat and entering a cave."

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "Don"t fool us." He lighted a fire stick but there was nothing inside the room besides a statue of Bodhisattva in a sitting position facing the wall. Peachtree Root Fairy went up to the offering table to light up the oil lamp. He said, "Where"s the cave? Let"s drive these mice out." He took the oil lamp from the table to inspect the room but there was no cave at all.

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "I"m afraid it might be behind the Bodhisattva."

"Behind the Bodhisattva is us seven people. Are we the mice?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy said.

"Bodhisattva is facing the wall. So its back is its front," Peachtree Branch Fairy reasoned.

"You know you said it wrong but don"t want to admit it! How can the back be the front?" admonished Peachtree Trunk Fairy.

"The back is fine, front is also fine. Let"s pull it open and have a look," Peachtree Flower Fairy said.

Peachtree Leaf Fairy and Peachtree Fruit Fairy replied together, "Yes." The three of them went forward to pull the statue open.

Linghu Chong called out, "Don"t do that, this is ancestor Da Mo." He knew that ancestor Da Mo was Shaolin temple"s grandmaster. Shaolin Temple was the leader in the study of the martial art because ancestor Da Mo pa.s.sed his martial art down. Their martial art had been around for more than a thousand year without declining. Some time in the past, Da Mo sat facing the wall for nine years until he finally gained enlightenment. That was the reason why the statue of Da Mo in the temple was also facing the wall. Ancestor Da Mo was the ancestor of the Zen Buddhism in the central plain and he was held in reverence in both the Wulin world and in Buddhism. So far, the crowd of heroes had been following his order and didn"t destroy any object in the temple. He didn"t want them now to insult the statue of Da Mo.

But Peachtree Flower Fairy and his two brothers" playfulness were out already and they didn"t pay attention to Linghu Chong"s shout. The three people used their strength, which exceeded a thousand catty, to turn the statue of Da Mo around. Suddenly, the seven people shouted in surprise as they saw an iron panel slowly rose up and exposed a big hole. The hardened rust on the hinges of the iron panel buckled open under the pressure of Peachtree Flower Fairy and the other two fairies" pull.

"There"s really a cave!" Peachtree Branch Fairy exclaimed.

"Let"s go have a look at those six mice carrying a cat," Peachtree Root Fairy said. He lowered his head and entered the hole. They all entered the hole one by one with Peachtree Trunk Fairy entering last. Inside, the hole was enormous and when the six people entered the hole, they were only able to hear their own footsteps. They only spent a short time in there admiring the hole before coming out.

Peachtree Branch Fairy called out, "It"s so dark and deep inside that we can"t see the bottom."

Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "Since it"s so dark, how do you know it"s deep for certain? Maybe after a few more steps, we"ll arrive at the bottom."

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "If you already knew that you"ll reach the bottom after a few more steps, why do you need to keep walking to find out if the bottom is there?"

Peachtree Leaf Fairy said, "I said "maybe" not "for certain". "Maybe" and "for certain" are different."

Peachtree Branch Fairy said, "You already know that it"s "maybe", why do you still speak so much then?"

Peachtree Root Fairy said, "What are you quarrelling about? Quickly get two fire sticks to go inside and have a look."

Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "Why only two fire sticks, can"t we light three sticks instead?"

Peachtree Flower Fairy said, "If you light three sticks, why don"t you light four then?"

These six people kept on talking incessantly but their hands were moving quickly. They broke the table"s legs and lighted up four fire sticks. After fighting over the fire sticks for a while, they entered the hole. Linghu Chong considered, "This must be a secret path of the Shaolin temple. That day when I was trapped in the Plum Manor, I also went through a long path. It seems that Yingying is being imprisoned here."

At this thought, his heart started to thump wildly and he quickly entered the hole. He quickened his steps to catch up to the Peach Valley Six Fairies. The path was wide and it was completely different from the narrow and damp path in Plum Manor. But it was very mouldy in the tunnel which made breathing uncomfortable.

Peachtree Fruit Fairy said, "We still haven"t seen those six mice. I"m afraid they didn"t come through this hole. Let"s turn back and look in another area."

Peachtree Trunk Fairy said, "Turn back when we reach the end, we still have time."

The six people continued to walk forward again when suddenly a meditation stick dropped out of nowhere startling all of them. Peachtree Flower Fairy was walking in front and he hastily jumped back b.u.mping into Peachtree Fruit Fairy"s chest. They saw a monk holding a meditation stick striking from the right wall. Peachtree Flower Fairy was angry and he shouted, "His granny, bald donkey, they"re hiding here to plot against grandpa." He extended his hand towards the wall to grab him. But another meditation stick thrust out from the left wall. Peachtree Flower Fairy could not step back anymore to avoid this stick so he leaped forward. His left foot just touched the ground when another stick flew out from the right wall.

At this time, Linghu Chong had seen everything clearly. There was no enemy using those meditation sticks but a couple of iron statues. These equipments were really wonderful. As soon as someone stepped on the ground these statues were covering, they would not only strike out but every strike was wonderfully and severely done. Peachtree Flower Fairy took out a short iron stick and blocked the strike but it was shaken violently as it flew out of his hand. Peachtree Flower Fairy cried out and rolled around on the ground. But another iron meditation stick struck down towards his head. Peachtree Root Fairy and Peachtree Branch Fairy took out their short iron sticks and rushed forward to save their brother. They raised both their sticks blocking the incoming meditation stick. But as the first one was blocked, the second one struck. Peachtree Trunk Fairy, Peachtree Leaf Fairy, and Peachtree Fruit Fairy rushed forward blocking this second strike. They were using these five sticks to block the incessant strikes of the two meditation sticks from the wall. Even though the iron monks using these meditation sticks were not alive, they were crafted very smartly and it was as if real Shaolin"s monks were executing these skills or some eminent monks were directing the statues. Each strike done by these iron monks was very severe and pointed at a dangerous spot.

The meditation stick along with the iron monk"s arm was made of fine steel which altogether weighed close to a hundred catty. This was further added to the force generated from the moving arm, which made the strike to be very powerful and similar to that of a master. Even though the Peach Valley Six Fairies" martial arts were powerful, the short iron sticks they were using were too short which made it hard for them to block the meditation sticks. The six brothers were calling out in pain. They wanted to withdraw but the way back was completely blocked by the meditation sticks. However, for every step they took going forward, more iron monks joined the fight.

Linghu Chong saw that the situation was dangerous and he also saw that although these iron monks" movements were refined, each movement had enormous flaws in it. He immediately drew his long sword out and pierced it towards an iron monk"s two wrists. Bursts of sparks flew out as the long sword bounced back after colliding with the acupoints in the iron monk"s wrists. At this moment, he heard the Peachtree Root Fairy shouting ferociously as he was. .h.i.t by the meditation stick and fell on the ground. Linghu Chong was frightened seeing this and his mind was in confusion. He saw the meditation sticks moved again and without thinking any further, he thrust his sword out.

"Zheng, zheng"

He had again hit two strategic points on the iron monk"s body. But even though these two thrust were perfect and wonderful, they only managed to sc.r.a.pe away the rust on the iron monk"s chest and lower abdomen. He heard the wind whistled on top of his head as a meditation stick was smashing down on him. Linghu Chong was greatly alarmed and quickly avoided the strike. But another meditation stick was striking out from the left side of his body. Suddenly, everything turned dark and he couldn"t see anything anymore. It was because the four fire sticks that the Peach Valley Six Fairies were carrying were thrown to the ground as they started to fight the iron monks. These fire sticks were made from the legs of a table. They were able to burn easily when they were being carried by hands. But when dropped on the ground, they got extinguished in a short time. When Linghu Chong first rushed forward, three of the fire sticks were already extinguished. Right when he was avoiding that strike, the fourth fire stick was extinguished. He was helpless as he couldn"t see anything in that hole. He felt pain shooting up on his left shoulder and dropped down onto the ground. He heard the Peach Valley Six Fairies calling out one after another: "Ayo!" "Hng!" "My mommy!" as they were also hit and dropped to the ground.

Linghu Chong was staying down and he heard behind him the "hu, hu" sound of the sticks sweeping over. He was terrified feeling like he was in a nightmare and was completely powerless. But not long after, the sound of the meditation sticks splitting the air was getting lighter and lighter. Until finally, he heard a "ji, ji, ge, ge" sound. The sticks had finally stopped and the iron monks returned to their original positions.

Suddenly, the area around him was bright and he heard a person calling out, "Master Linghu, are you here?"

Linghu Chong was happy to hear his voice and quickly called out, "I"m… I"m here…" But he didn"t dare to move and lay still on the ground. He heard the footsteps of a few people entering the hole and approaching him. He heard Ji Wushi uttered in amazement.

"Don"t… don"t come over… mechanism… mechanism is really fierce," Linghu Chong warned them.

Ji Wushi was worried when Linghu Chong had not come back yet after a long time. So he went out with more than ten men to search for him. In the Da Mo room, they found the entrance to the hole. They were astonished to see Linghu Chong and the Peach Valley Six Fairies lying on the ground with blood all over them.

"Master Linghu, what happened?" Zu Qianqiu called out.

"Stay there, don"t move. One move and you"ll trigger the mechanism," Linghu Chong said.

"Yes! How about if I use a soft whip to drag all of you out?" Zu Qianqiu asked.

"That"s the best way," Linghu Chong answered.

Zu Qianqiu flung his soft whip out and coiled it around Peachtree Branch Fairy"s left leg. He dragged Peachtree Branch Fairy out of there. Peachtree Branch Fairy was the closest one to him so Zu Qianqiu dragged him out first. He then flung his whip and wrapped it around Linghu Chong"s right leg. "Sorry for the offence!" He dragged him out. Using this method, he dragged all of them out one by one without triggering the mechanism.

Linghu Chong falteringly stood up and hastily went to look at the Peach Valley Six Fairies. The six people"s shoulders, heads, and backs were hit by the meditation sticks. Luckily, they had thick skins and flesh along with their deep internal energies to resist the hits. So they only received flesh wounds. Peachtree Root Fairy was already bragging, "These iron monks are good, but the Peach Valley Six Fairies broke them already." Peachtree Flower Fairy felt that it was inappropriate to claim this achievement for themselves only so he said, "Master Linghu also worked hard, but he didn"t work as hard as us six brothers."

Linghu Chong endured the pain on his shoulder and head while laughing, "Of course, who can work harder than the Peach Valley Six Fairies?"

"Master Linghu, what"s this all about?" Zu Qianqiu inquired.

Linghu Chong told him what he thought. "It"s very likely that Sacred Lady is being held in here. Let"s think of a plan to break those iron monks."

Zu Qianqiu glared at the Peach Valley Six Fairies. "So the iron monks aren"t broken yet."

Peachtree Trunk Fairy gave an excuse. "What"s so hard to break those iron monks? We just didn"t feel like breaking them before."

"Yeah, wherever Peach Valley Six Fairies go, there"s nothing we can"t destroy and there"s no enemy that we can"t handle," Peachtree Fruit Fairy bragged.

"We don"t know how good these iron monks are. Can the Peach Valley Six Fairies rush in again to activate those machines and let us see how good they are?" Ji Wushi implored.

The Peach Valley Six Fairies had suffered under these machines before. How could they agree to this request to go in there and experience those meditation sticks again?

"Everyone, we"ve all seen a cat catching a mouse. But has anyone see a mouse catching a rat?" Peachtree Trunk Fairy tried to change the topic.

"We seven people saw it just then and it has really widened our eyes since we"ve never seen it before," Peachtree Leaf Fairy told everyone.

These six brothers had a really unique skill. When they met with a difficult problem that they had no answer to, then they would start talking about anything and change the topic.

"Someone please go and get some big rock here. Those ones that weighed around one to two hundred catties," Linghu Chong ordered.

Three people immediately went out and brought three big rocks in. These rocks were the fake rock mountains from the Shaolin Temple"s courtyard. Linghu Chong carried one rock, gathered his qi and bowled the rock forward. The rock rumbled forward triggering the mechanism and one by one the iron monks emerged from the walls. They were only able to see the shadows of the sticks moving as the iron monks started to strike downwards continuously. After a long time, the iron monks went back into the walls one after another. Everyone had now seen the dizzying speed at which those sticks were striking down and they were all at loss for words.

Ji Wushi suggested his opinion. "Master, these iron monks have some kind of trigger. The trigger applied a lot of power to turn an iron chain somewhere to move those iron men. We can roll those big rocks a few more times until the power of the trigger is exhausted then those iron monks won"t be able to move anymore."

Linghu Chong wanted to get Yingying out of danger as soon as possible. "I saw that those iron monks aren"t slow at all when deploying those sticks and I don"t know how many times they hit each time. If we try seven or eight more rocks to exhaust the trigger then it"ll be dawn already. Do any brothers have a treasured sabre or treasured sword that I can borrow?"

A person immediately stepped forward and drew his sabre out. "Chief, this sabre is really sharp."

Linghu Chong saw this person had a high nose, deep eyes, and yellow beard on his chin. It seemed that he was a person from the west region. As he took that sabre, he felt an unusually abundant cold air emanating from it. "Many thanks! I"m going to use this treasured sabre to sc.r.a.pe those iron men. Please don"t blame me if it"s damaged."

That person laughed. "For Sacred Lady, we wouldn"t regret to sacrifice our lives. The sabre is only an object, don"t worry about it."

Linghu Chong nodded and strode forward purposefully. Peach Valley Six Fairies called out at the same time, "Be careful!"

Linghu Chong took another two large strides when the iron monk was triggered and a meditation stick was striking downwards towards his head. This was the third time he saw this move so he didn"t need to think as he wielded his sabre slashing towards the right wrist of the iron monk. The wrist was cut easily and the iron hand along with the meditation stick dropped to the ground.

"Good sabre!" Linghu Chong praised. In the beginning, he was afraid that this sabre might not be sharp enough to cut the iron monk"s wrist. But seeing how this sabre cut iron like it was mud, his spirit was roused greatly.

"Shua, shua" as he cut two more of the iron monks" wrists. He was using the sabre like it was a sword and used the moves from the "Dugu Nine Swords". The iron monks kept on coming out of the walls to attack but their wrists had already been cut and their meditation sticks had already fallen on the ground. Even though their two arms were still intact and they were still moving them around, no more meditation sticks were on their hands which made them harmless. Linghu Chong kept on going forward and the moves the iron monks used were wonderful. He secretly admired them but they were only dead objects after all. So as they used their moves, there were many flaws on them. Even after all their wrists were cut off, the trigger was still working continuously. But everything had become a waste now. The group lifted the fire sticks high above their heads to follow him and to light the way. After cutting more than a hundred iron wrists, there was no more iron monks coming out of the wall. Someone counted and there were actually one hundred and eight iron monks. The crowd was excited and started to cheer loudly.

Linghu Chong wanted to urgently meet Yingying so he took a fire stick and rushed forward. He was being careful as he pa.s.sed along in case he touches some kind of trigger. The tunnel continuously slanted downwards. After going for more than three li, the tunnel had gone past several natural caves and they didn"t meet any kind of trigger. Suddenly, they saw a pale light coming from in front. Linghu Chong rushed forward and as he stepped outside, he felt that the ground was soft. He had unexpectedly stepped on a layer of snow. At the same time, a wave of cold air blew on his chest. He was unexpectedly at an empty place.

He looked at all the directions and saw the dark sky and the snow flakes falling down. He also heard the sound of water from a creek nearby. Suddenly, he felt disappointed as the tunnel wasn"t going to where Yingying was being imprisoned. He heard Ji Wushi behind him said, "Everyone be quiet. Don"t make any noise. It"s very likely that we"re at the bottom of Mount Shaoshi."

"So we"ve escaped from danger?" Linghu Chong asked.

"Master, in the depth of winter, the stream on the mountaintop would have no running water. It seemed that we"ve pa.s.sed through the tunnel and arrived at the foot of the mountain."

"Yes, somehow we"ve stumbled into Shaolin Temple"s secret tunnel," Zu Qianqiu said.

Linghu Chong was surprised and happy at the same time. He gave the treasured sabre back to that hero from the west region and said, "Then quickly pa.s.s the word back to the main group and ask them to use the tunnel to get out."

Ji Wushi ordered tens of brothers to find out their exact location at the foot of the mountain and guard the tunnel"s exit in case of the enemy attacking before all the brothers had gone out. If the tunnel"s exit was blocked before all the brothers were out, then they would all be trapped inside.

Not long after, the people finding out their exact location returned to confirm that they were at the bottom of Mount Shaoshi and they were also at the back of the mountain. If they raised their heads, they would be able to see the cloister at the top of the mountain. The group of heroes had still not escaped from danger at this moment so no one dared to speak loudly. The number of warriors coming out of the tunnel gradually increased. They were also carrying the injured and dead out with them.

Even though the group of heroes had escaped with their lives, they didn"t cheer but just discussed it quietly and were all feeling happy. The Black Bear from the Bear Duo of the Northern Desert said, "Chief, those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds still thought that we"re in the temple. It would be good to attack their b.u.t.t and cut off their tail. That way we can vent our anger."

Peachtree Trunk Fairy b.u.t.ted in, "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have tails?"

"We came to Shaolin Temple to meet with Sacred Lady. But we didn"t get to meet the Sacred Lady so we must continue to look for her. There"s no need for more killings," Linghu Chong said.

White Bear said, "Hng, no matter what, I have to grab some of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. If not then they"ve bullied us too much."

"Please pa.s.s this order down. Everyone go separately and if you meet anyone from the orthodox school, it"s best if you don"t fight with them. If anyone heard of any news of Sacred Lady then please spread it around. As long as I, Linghu Chong, am still alive, no matter what kind of difficulty or danger I have to go through, I will definitely get Sacred Lady out. Are there anymore brothers still inside the temple?" Linghu Chong announced.

Ji Wushi walked to the tunnel"s exit and called out into the tunnel a few times. After waiting for some time, he called out a few more times but there was no response from inside the tunnel. He reported, "They"re all out already!" Linghu Chong"s childish heart was roused, "Everyone, let"s call out three times and give those orthodox school"s people a fright."

Zu Qianqiu laughed, "Wonderful! Everyone follow Chief and call out loudly."

Linghu Chong used his inner energy to call out, "Everyone call out after me, one, two, three! "Wei, we"ve gone down the mountain already!"."

"Wei, we"ve gone down the mountain already!" the thousands of people called out.

Linghu Chong continued, "Enjoy the snow on the mountaintop!"

"Enjoy the snow on the mountaintop!" the group of heroes called out.

Linghu Chong called out again, "The green mountains never change and the river will always flow far, till we meet again!"

"The green mountains never change and the river will always flow far, till we meet again!" the group of heroes called out loudly.

Linghu Chong laughed, "Let"s go!"

Suddenly, some people called out, "You son of a turtle b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, go to your granny."

"You son of a turtle b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, go to your granny," the group of heroes followed.

These vulgar words were also repeated after by the crowd with their voices shaking the valley. Linghu Chong called out, "Alright, no need to call out anymore, let"s go!"

The group of heroes was still excited and they also echoed him, "Alright, no need to call out anymore, let"s go!"

After they had finished calling out, they saw that the mountaintop stayed calm and still. The sky was gradually becoming brighter so one by one, they started to leave. Linghu Chong thought, "Right now, the first big matter I have to do is to find out Yingying"s whereabouts. Next, I have to find out who killed Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai. Where should I go to accomplish these two matters?" A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, "Shaolin monks and the orthodox school"s people must know by now that we"ve gone down the mountain and escaped their trap. Naturally, they"ll go back to the temple. Maybe they brought Yingying with them. To do these two matters, I have to go back to Shaolin." He thought further, "The less people going back to Shaolin temple the better. I can"t let Ji Wushi and the rest of them follow me back."

He went to Ji Wushi, Old Man, Zu Qianqiu, Blue Phoenix, Huang Boliu, and the rest of them to say, "Everyone worked hard. We"ll celebrate after we"ve met Sacred Lady."

"Master, where are you going?" Ji Wushi asked.

"Please forgive little brother. I can"t say where I"m going for now. I"ll tell you everything later," Linghu Chong said.

They all didn"t dare to ask anymore and one by one said their goodbyes to him.